CPSC Closes the Mail Loophole — From October 22, 2026 Certificate eFiling Is Required on International Mail Shipments Filed Under CBP's New Entry Type 13
In a bulletin released September 1, 2026, the Consumer Product Safety Commission told the trade community that eFiling will be required for mail shipments filed under entry type 13 beginning October 22, 2026. Until now, goods arriving through the international postal network were effectively outside the eFiling regime — not by exemption, but because CBP did not collect entry data for products imported into the United States by mail, so there was no ACE filing to attach certificate data to. CBP's Entry Type 13 informal mail entry test, which went live in ACE production on September 22, 2026, changes that: once a mail shipment is filed electronically, CPSC expects the certificate data with it. From October 22 mail shipments must submit either the full or the reference message set via ACE, the same two options that already apply to every other mode of transport under the mandatory eFiling rule that took effect July 8, 2026.
Real-World Impact
The mandatory eFiling rule has applied to every other mode of transport since July 8, 2026, and mail was the remaining gap because there was no electronic entry to carry the data. October 22, 2026 closes it — exactly one month after Entry Type 13 opened in ACE production on September 22, 2026. A seller who has been receiving regulated goods by mail has that one-month window to get certificate data into either the full or the reference message set before the requirement bites.
Key Points
- CPSC released a bulletin on September 1, 2026 advising that eFiling will be required for mail shipments under entry type 13 beginning October 22, 2026
- Before this, entries by mail were not required to submit eFiling data to CPSC — the reason given is that CBP did not collect entry data for products imported into the US by international mail, so there was no electronic entry to file against
- With the arrival of entry type 13, mail shipments will be required to submit either the full or the reference message set via ACE
- This sits on top of CBP's Entry Type 13 informal mail entry test, which commenced in the ACE production environment on September 22, 2026 for postal shipments valued at $2,500 or less
- CPSC's general eFiling mandate has been in force since July 8, 2026 for regulated finished consumer products; Foreign Trade Zone filings follow on January 8, 2027
- Responsibility sits with the importer — CPSC identifies the filer as the party eligible to make entry for the merchandise under CBP statutes and regulations, which may be an owner, purchaser, consignee, or authorized customs broker
- The same September 4, 2026 trade-law roundups that carried this item also list it as an enforcement date of October 22, 2026 for entry-type-13 mail, separate from the September 22 start of the CBP test itself
What You Should Do Now
- 1Work out whether any of your mail-borne inventory is subject to a CPSC rule, ban, or standard — if it is, a certificate is already required, and from October 22, 2026 it has to reach CPSC electronically when the mail entry is filed
- 2Ask your customs broker whether they will be filing your postal shipments under entry type 13 and, if so, whether they will send the full message set or the reference message set for CPSC
- 3If you plan to use the reference message set, make sure your certificate data is registered and that you have the reference identifiers to hand — the reference option only works if the underlying certificate record exists
- 4Line up certificates from your testing lab or supplier for every regulated mail-borne SKU now rather than at the border; a missing certificate is a compliance problem, not a paperwork one
- 5If you have been treating mail as a way to move small quantities without customs filings, reprice that assumption for Q4 — between the Entry Type 13 filing itself and the CPSC data that now rides along with it, postal shipments carry the same documentation burden as everything else
- 6Watch for CPSC's own confirmation and any CSMS follow-up before October 22 — this item reached the trade through CPSC's bulletin to the trade community rather than a Federal Register notice, so the operational detail may still be refined